Quick-acting voltage-regulator system



E. L. HARDER QUICK ACTING VOLTAGE-REGULATOR SYSTEM Re oulator Jan. 15, 1946.

INVENTOR fawm L.Haraen ATTORNEY WITNESSES;

Patented Jan. 15, 1946 QUICK-ACTING VoLTAGE' REG-uI'JAToR' SYSTEM Edwin L. Harder Forest Hills; Pa.,"assig imr=to Westinghouse Electric Corporatiom East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application ctober 30,.1942,-' S'e'ii'alNo. 463,973. Divided and this-*appiicatiomDecem bei- 1, 1943, Serial No. 512,443

12 Claims; (01. ril -r19 This is division crmy" application Serial N6; 463,973, filed 0ctober" so, 1942; in which is de-" scribed and claimed a minimum-voltage network and a protective relaying system utilizing the same.

My present invention-relates to the application of my novel minimum-voltage network to a voltage-regulator which" is" adapted to control a polyphase synchronous machineywhich is adapted for use on a polyphase. line subject to;singlephase faults, said machine having a quick-acting excitation-system of the kind described and claimed in the Evans et a1, Patent 1,692,495, granted November 20, 1928- and assigned to the Westinghouse Electric 8':- Manuf-acturihg Company.

In the Evans et a1. patent, it was shown to be desirable to quickly increase the excitation of a synchronous generator 'or'condenser, at times of a single-phase fault on a polyphase system. It is not satisfactory to"excite the voltage regul'ator from a single phase of the line voltage, because, if this were done, a single-phase fault 'on some other phase might, under some circumstances," produce a-mo-mentary voltage=rise on one of the u'nfaulted" phases, which wouldcause the quick-response excitation-system to start to rapidly'decrease the excitation, when an increase was actually required. This difli'cultyi has been overcome by resort to a polyphase-responsive voltage-regulator."

Arrobiect' of my present inventionis to rovide a substitute for'the" polyphase responsive voltage=regulator of the quick-excited polyphase' machine'of the Evans et 'a'l' pa'tent, and'to "utilize;

in lieu thereof, a minimum-voltage=responsive device for energizing the voltage-regulator sub stantially in accordance" with the lowest phasevoltage of the line, wherebyfat times" of a single phase fauitaffectin'g any? oneof the phase volt' ages of the line, the regulator 'issure to promptly start the excitation-rewonsein" the proper 'direc tion.

With the foregoing and other objectsinview,

my invention relates to the structures, ap sraws;

electric machine I 0, having an excitation-system represented bythe slip-rings H, the voltageregulator; I 2 ,;and the source of} exciting-current energy l3. The primary windings of the synchronous machine M a-reconnected to a threephase line a I 4.-

Inaccordance with myinvention, as shown in Fig. 1, I provide a minimum-voltage-selective network I5, for respondingto thesmallest of the three line-voltages, which are derived by means of three potential-transformers Ta, Tb, Tc. The three derived line-voltages are rectified, through rectifier-bridges BaQ-Bb and Be, the outputs of which are supplied tothree rectified-current resistorsRr, Rs and Rs,*soas-*to"produce; in the severai resistors Rt; a"- unidirectional voltage drop proportional to the magnitude oftheco'r're spending phase-voltageof the line It. Ordinarily, some sort of voltage-smoothing means is desirabl'ei for smoothing 'out the-ripples'in the rectified currentj and tothi seii'dfI have; illustrated filtercapacitors' Ca-Cb'andCc, shunting the respective resistors Rs, and intend'edfio" be" symbolic of any desired ripple-suppressing means, a number'bi which are known to the art. I

My minimum-voltage network l5 is als o provided with a pair of output-terminals m, n which are the terminals of a"relay R or other voltageresponsive device which is intended to be respont sive to the smallestof the three control-voltages appearing across 'th'ethree rectified-current resistors R Th output-terminals m, n of the netwere I5 in Fig: *1; are in the-general case, also energized froman auxiliary unidirectional-curwrent source of poorvoltage regula-tion, by which- Rrythreeseriallyconnected rectifiers l6, l1 and I8;-such as--smal1 contact-type rectifiers, or other asymmetrically conducting 1 circuit-means, are respectively' interposed in the circuit-connections, one in-each,-so as to'provide a relatively free or good-conducting path for current flowing from thenetwork-terminals-m, n to any one of three control-voltage resistors Rs, but interposing a relativelyhighresistance;or even substantially an open-circuit effect, forpreventing current from -freely flowing in the reverse direction;

In the particular system shown in Fig. 1, the relay R is the voltage-coi1 of the voltage-regulator l2, which is utilized to control, in some manner, the vibrating-contacts IQ of the regulator.

The operation of the minimum-voltage network i of Fig. 1 will best be understood by reference to the equivalent-circuit diagram of Fig. 2, in which the serially connected rectifiers l6, l1 and i8 have been replaced by their equivalent resistances Ra, Rb and Re, respectively, having a small resistance-value F in the forward direction, and a high resistance-value NF in the reverse-direction, as indicated by the arrows, N being the rectification-ratio. The relay R is represented, in Fig. 2, by its resistance R. The voltages appearing across the three control-voltage resistances Rr are designated Ea, Eb, E0, respectively, with the understanding that the subscript a is applied to whichever one of three voltages happens to be the lowest, so that, if these three voltages Ea, Eb, and E0 are not all equal, it is always assumed that Ea designates the lowest of the three control-voltages.

In Fig. 2, th network-voltage is E, 1 l l l l a+11+a+e+t As long as Ea, which is the designation applied to the smallest of the three controlling-voltages, is less than Emu,

E E E, i-i- 'i' l M (1) Since F is small as compared to R, F will draw enough current to bring down Emu to a value close to Ea, so that Emu will be less than either one of the two larger controlling-voltages Eb or E0, so that In order for Ext to be less than Emu, it must be less than the voltage Elm which the network would have had without th Err-branch. Thus s) 1; R, A on u R, R N

This imposes an upper limit on Ea, above which the network-voltage Emu will not be responsive to En. This upper limit of Ea may be designated,

s) mux JF E R, R N

said transformer Ts, so as to determine Ea IraRr. Thus I,, Im (7) 5 whence mu" l; 0 F

Substituting from (4) and solving,

F N a+ra+a F 2 F F This imposes a lower limit on Ea, below which the network-voltage Emu will not be controlled by Ea. This lower limit of Ea may be designated,

FE,+1 F

F F 2 F F s ew (aha The ratio of the measured voltage Emn to the control-voltage is found, from (4) and (6), to be K- 1++E+Z (12) R, R N

The relay-response Emn is proportional to the control-voltage Ea within a certain accuracy which we may designated as :P percent, over the range from Ea=Emax to Ea=Emln. A low percentage of error, P, is desired, both in relays which are required to respond accurately to Ea over a considerable range, Ema! to Emin, and also in undervoltage or dropout relays in which the rate of change in the relay-voltage Exnn should be as fast as possible, in comparison to the rate of change of the controlling-voltage Ea.

By successively substituting Ea EmnX and En Emln in 12, and dividing the results, we find that Q -P 100+P E F F 2 1+ Fitd e (13) E F F 2 min Substituting from (11) and solving for P,

P F F F 1 F 3 IWTFFIZTGH.) 612) 14 The fraction F/Rr will inherently be small, and

hence as shown by Equation 14, the error P will be m ne small; This'is-soybecause the"forward-resistance" Foftlierectifier il 8 which=is interposed 'between' the network voltage and the-control-voltag'e Ea will inaturally'bemade as small as practicable; while the bridge=connected resistance Rr'will'have to be made large j enough to avoid imposing an; excessive volt-ampere burden W on' the" potentlal transformer-Ts'. When Ea=Eb=Efa cr'"-E;= (Et+;E)'/2, thispotential transformer'burden Wii will be approximately" equal to;

Since F /Rr isthus' small, Equation 11 shows thatithespr'ead between Em and' Emm is dep'endwe a mm.

Obviously, the smaller the spread between- Eincx and Eaml, in Equation 11, the smallermay be tlie relay-resistance-R in comparison to the iiridgeconnected-resistance R1, thus-increasing the rela yenergy, which is;

Eng,

given ratic-of'Em; to Emiri, over which the relay is tobe responsive, and for a mechanical relay;

which 'usually needs amaximum energy-inputW- into-the rela-y at" any given relay-'voltage Emn, (as distinguished from a tube-type relay) itis neces-' sary" for-the relay-resistance R to be as small aspossible; in compa-rison to the bridge-connected resistance Ri which' can be accomplished only by mahingZR/NF and R/Rs as small -as possiblein Equation-11. This means making;N and m as large asposslble, as" will now be discussed;

To make N large, means to choosea goodfrectifier for the serially-connected rectifier 16-whichis interposedbetween the network-voltage Emu and thecontrolwoltage Ea.

To make R. as large as possible; itcould'be" madeinfi'nite', .which'is to say'that the source-Es could b'e'omitted, except for the requlrementasto the maximum control-voltage Emx "to which the relay must'respond; With R5 infinite, Equation fifshowsthatEmax cannot be larger than and" the higher the rectificatlon ratio' N, the smaller will be the. fraction 1/ (1+NF/2R) Forjanyrelay which is'required to begin to'respondto the. smallest control-voltage Es. before Ea drops to avalue as low as (Eb+Ec) /(2+NF/R) it 'is'necessar'y to'utilize the source Es; and hence,

for serving such a" relay, Rs cannot be made infinite;

Forja network in which the source E1 i reuiredQin orderto make the network responsive to a sum'cienuy 'high maximum-value Em; of the.

control-voltage Ea, the network 'constants; may advantageously be selected, if desired, so; as to obtaln'a maximum relay-energy W at any desired relay-voltage Emm. If it is desired; for example, to make therelay-energyW as large as possible when the control-voltage Ea has its maximum value E a at'whichEs will exercise any control. over the relay-voltage Em, the relay energy W under: these vconditions maybe obtained "by sub stituting from Equations 4'and 6 in Equation 16:'

From Equation-11, it is very evident'that; for a 'l'hisemeansithat; if: the'source andaits seri- 1 ally; connected resistance R3111? used,-, and-11f the: relay+energy W isto :be as large- 3811305511118, thew reverser-currentsresistance of the; con 7 nected rectifiersejfi; ll'andl8imustbelmorelthan;

twice the relay-resistance: R/-perhaps-: atleast four times as much, in any practical case.

Substituting from 17 in .11; ,we find that For the; particular case in whichitis required;

that'therelay' shall begin to vrespiond'to the s'mallg estcontrol-voltageiEs' when Esfirst begins to'drop' below E=Et=Ec, Emax will be (EH-E972, and" Equation 19 reduces to' Equations 17, 18"and' 20'thus showthe essential design-characteristics oi a"- network designed to' provide a maximum energy-input into the-'- relay when the three control-voltages Ea, Eb, and- Ee are all equal, the networkbeing also-designed so" thatit is'able'to respond to Ea whenitflrst starts'to-drop' below Es or Ec, that is, below- (Eb+Ec)/2L' Where the potential transformers Ts, Ta and Tears. connected to the different phases" of a constantwoltage line, which'is thenormal case,

andv where the network is not required to respond to'the lowest control-voltage Es until itdrops to somev value below. its normalmaximum value;

which is the .normal line-voltage, it ispossible to' utilize a storage-battery for the auxiliary sourceEs, and tomake' the voltage of this storagebattery" somewhat less than the normal linevoltage, or somewhat less than (Eb'+Ec) /2. Un-

I der these circumstances, under normal line-voltageiconditions, the three line-voltages will tricklecharge the battery Es through the back-current flow through the three serially connected rectifiers l6; lTand18 oil-Fig. 1, which are-represented byithe resistances Ra, Ru and Re inFig'. 2, thus saving the cost of a separate trickle-charging outfit for the battery. In other instances, a-

direct-current station-bus may be utilized forthe auxiliary source Es.-

In the operation'of my 'invention asishown in- Fig. 1, the regulator-coil Rjis thus impressed with" a voltage which is responsive to the smallest of the three phases of the polyphase voltage of the threeephase line I4, the manner of this response having fully been explained. Under normal line'- voltage conditions, the" vibrating regulator-contacts hold the voltage of the synchr0nousmachine lfl-at'any'desired'value. If; now, a-'single= phase" fault occurs on the line "I 4- to whichthe machine I!) is connected, the line-voltage may not always immediately reduce on both of the sound phases, but it will be sure to be immediately reduced on the faulted phase, and my minimum-voltage network causes the regulator [2 to respond to the smallest voltage, which will be the voltage of the faulted phase, thus causing the regulator to promptly start the excitationresponse in the proper direction. Thus, when the regulator-contact I9 is closed, the excitation of the machine [0 is being quickly increased. In this manner, the benefits of quick-response excitation are obtained with a minimum-voltage response without necessitating a special regulator which is responsive to a polyphase voltage.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination, with a polyphase line which is subject to single-phase faults, of a synchronous dynamo-electric machine connected thereto, an excitation-system which is at times capable of quickly increasing the excitation of said machine, a quick-acting voltage-responsive regulator for controlling said excitation-system, and a minimum-voltage-responsive device for energizing said regulator, said minimum-voltageresponsive device being selectively responsive substantially only to the lowest phase-Voltage of the line, whereby, at times of a single-phase fault affecting any one of the phase-voltages of the line,

the regulator is sure to promptly start the exci- 1 tation-response in the proper direction.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising a plurality of pairs of controlvoltage terminals, means for energizing the difierent pairs of control-voltage terminals from difierent voltage-phases of the polyphase line, a pair of output-voltage terminals, and a separate asymmetrically conducting circuit-means for joining the pair of output-voltage terminals to each of the several pairs of control-voltage terminals for providing a good-conductor currentpath for cm'rent flowing from the pair of output-voltage terminals to its associated pair of control-voltage terminals and for providing a resistively conducting current-path for current flowing from said associated pair of control-voltage terminals to the pair of output-voltage terminals, whereby, under operating conditions, current flows, at times, from the pair of output-voltage terminals to whichever pair of control-voltage terminals has the lowest control-voltage applied thereto from its associated voltage-phase, pulling down the voltage of the output-voltage terminals to a value approaching said lowest control-voltage.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising a pair of supply-voltage terminals, a plurality of pairs of control-voltage terminals, means for energizing the different pairs of control-voltage terminals from difierent voltage-phases of the polyphase line, a pair of output-voltage terminals, circuit-means including resistance for joining the pair of output-voltage terminals to the pair of supply-voltage terminals for providing a resistively conducting currentpath for current flowing from the pair of supplyvoltage terminals to the pair of output-voltage terminals, and a separate asymmetrically conducting circuit-means for joining the pair of output-voltage terminals to each of the several pairs of control-voltage terminals for providing a goodconductor current-path for current flowing from the pair of output-voltage terminals to its associated pair of control-voltage terminals but not for current flowing in the reverse direction, whereby, under operating conditions, current flows, at times, from the pair of output-voltage terminals to whichever pair of control-voltage terminals has the lowest control-voltage applied thereto from its associated voltage-phase, pulling down the voltage of the output-voltage terminals to a value approaching said lowest control-voltage.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising a plurality of sources, responsive to different voltage-phases of the polyphase line, for providing variable unidirectional control-voltages, a voltage-responsive device, and a separate asymmetrically conducting circuitmeans {or connecting each of the control-voltage sources in the same polarity to the voltageresponsive device for providing a. good-conductor current-path for current flowing from the terminals of the voltage-responsive device to its associated control-voltage source and for providing a resistively conducting current-path for current flowing from said associated control-voltage source to the voltage-responsive device.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising a source of unidirectional current having a voltage which decreases with increasing current, a voltage-responsive device connected thereto, a plurality of sources, responsive to different voltage-phases of the polyphase line, for providing a plurality of variable unidirectional control-voltages, and a separate asymmetrically conducting circuitmeans for connecting each of the control-voltage sources in the same polarity to the voltage-responsive device as the first-mentioned source for providing a good-conductor current-path for current flowing from the terminals of the voltage-responsive device to its associated control-voltage source but not for current flowing in the reverse direction.

6. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising a voltageresponsive device, a plurality of control-circuit rectiflers, means for energizing the different rectiflers from different voltage-phases of the pclyphase line, a separate resistance and a separate asymmetrically conducting circuit-means for connecting each of the control-circuit rectifiers in the same polarity to the voltage-responsive device, the constants being such that the current which is fed from the terminals of the voltage-responsive device to the terminals of the resistance which is also being energized from a voltage-phase, when the latter is low, is less than the energizing-current which is fed into said resistance from said voltage-phase.

7. The invent-ion as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising a source of unidirectional current having a voltage which decreases with increasing current, a voltage-responsive device connected thereto, a plurality of control-circuit rectifiers, means for energizing the different rectifiers from diiierent voltage-phases of the polyphase line, a separate resistance and a separate asymmetrically conducting circuit-means for connecting each of the control-circuit rectiflers to the voltage-responsive device in the same polarity as the first-mentioned source, the constants being such that the current which is fed from the terminals of the voltage-responsive device to the terminals of the resistance which is also being energized from a voltage-phase, when the latter is low, is less than the energizing-current which is fed into said resistance from said voltage-phase.

8. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising three or more sources of unidirectional voltages, a plurality of said sources being line-voltage-responsive sources which are responsive to different voltage-phases of the polyphase line, a pair of terminals for each of said sources, a pair of network-terminals, and a plurality of parallel-connected branch-circuits, one for each source, connected across said pair of network-terminals, each branch-circuit of said line-voltage-responsive sources including, in series with its source-terminals, a rectifier directed so as to preferentially conduct current in a direction against the voltage of its source.

9. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising three or more sources of unidirectional voltages, a plurality of said sources being line-voltage-responsive sources which are responsive to different voltage-phases of the polyphas line, an electro-responsive device, and a plurality of parallel-connected branch-circuits, one for each source, connected across terminals of said electro-responsive device, each branchcircuit of said line-voltage-responsive sources in cluding, in series with its source, a rectifier directed so as to preferentially conduct current in a direction against the voltage of its source.

10. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising, a plurality of sources responsive to different voltage-phases of the polyphase line, a plurality of control-circuit resistors, rectifier-means for permitting current-flow in only one direction from each of said line-voltage-responsive sources to a corresponding one of said control-circuit resistors, a pair of network-tenninals, and a plurality of parallel-connected branch-circuits, one for each control-circuit resistor, connected across said pair of networkterminals, each branch-circuit including a rectifier directed so as to preferentially conduct current in a direction against the voltage impressed thereon by its line-voltage-responsive source.

11. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising, a plurality of sources responsive to different voltage-phases of the polyphase line, a plurality of control-circuit resistors, rectifiermeans for permitting current-flow in only one direction from each of said line-voltage-responsive sources to a corresponding one of said control-circuit resistors, an electro-responsive device, and a plurality of parallel-connected branch-circuits, one for each control-circuit resistor, connected across the terminals of said electro-responsive device, each branch-circuit including a rectifier directed so as to preferentially conduct current in a direction against the voltage impressed thereon by its line-voltage-responsive source.

12. The invention as defined in claim 1, characterized by said minimum-voltage-responsive device comprising means for deriving a polyphase control-voltage in response to the polyphase linevoltage, a separate conversion-means associated with each phase of the derived control-voltage and having a pair of control-voltage terminals having a unidirectional voltage thereacross which is responsive to its phase of the polyphase control-voltage, a unidirectional-current electro-responsive device, and a separate circuit-means including a serially connected rectifier for individually connecting each pair of control-voltage terminals to the terminals of said electroresponsive device in such manner as to freely draw current away from the terminals of the electro-responsive device to the lowest-voltage control-voltage terminals when the lowest control-voltage is lower than the voltage of the electro-responsive device, whereby, under such circumstances, the voltage of the electro-responsive device is brought down to a value approaching the lowest control-voltage.

EDWIN L. HARDER. 

